INTERSTATE THIEVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17902, 6 April 1920, Page 5

INTERSTATE THIEVES

appaeent interchange of booty. ; (F«om Ocn Own CoimKSPOKt>»nrT.) SYDNEY, March 26. The Sydney detectives aro proud of thai, fact that they have laid bare a system fol-, lowed by a. gang of clever thieves, who appear to have been working successfully for a long time between Melbourne and Sidney* These gentlemen specialised on goods frorni warehouses "and shops. Robberies of business premises hove been increasingly common, during the post year, and for a while the: police seemed baffled. Warehouses would! be swiftly and silently opened and large quantities of softgoods. boot% leather," fancy, goods, and suchlike merchandise •wowd' be., removed, evidently by motor vehicles, andl no trace of thieves or goods could be found. It appears that the thieves planned • to ovado the police system. When such good* were stolen in Melbourne, £or instance, every detective and constable was on the qui vivo for the appearance of similar goods in a eocond-liand shop or small shops of : doubtful character. The goods, therefore,: became! very difficult to dispose of witdiout'arousing! the suspicions of honest traders. So they devised a big system of operating in both Sydney and Melbourne, and of sending the stolon goods across to tho other city for disposal. Tho crooks calculated,_ and they were right, that good 3 stolen in Sydney would not be readily recognised in Melbourne, and vice versa.. They gave some attention to Adelaide and Brisbane, but mostl of their work was done in the big cities where/ of course, they were much safer. • Tho police got on their tracks eventually. It appears that detectives have been quietly, busy for some time at Alburyy'..on tho border, making a pare!ul analysis "of goods passing to and fro. As a result of information thus gathered, tlioy mado a raid in Sydney on Sunday. Fivo detectives went, out to Bondi, quietly surrounded: a house, ■ and pounced. They arrested within two persons whom they belicvo aro clever criminals and they collected £2000 worth of silk gooda, which they believe were stolen in Melbourne. Another party of detectivea went to a house, in another suburb, and there recovered £250 worth of shirts, stolen a few! days earlier from a Sydney factory. It is believed that they were all ready to go to Melbourne. The' suspected thief is. a man recently arrested on another charge, 'and who js suspected of being in the inter-StaW business. Other arrests are oxpeotcd in Melbourne.